Top 100 Quotes About Women's Roles
#1. When I started in the theater, I'd do plays by Shakespeare or Ibsen or Chekhov, and they all created great women's roles.
Annette Bening
#2. What I really want to do is create great roles for women. And I'm not talking Nicholas Sparks romance. I think women's roles have gotten ghettoized in these sort of places ... I'm thinking women in action, comic books, or like the Tony Soprano of women. We need some complex roles.
Melissa Rosenberg
#3. I never wrote just straight women's roles. I liked the strong characters. I don't mean women who have masculine qualities about them, but something that has some intestinal fortitude, some guts to it.
Ida Lupino
#4. The good news is that women's roles have changed so dramatically over the past three decades that women now expect to have careers, balance work and family, express their individual autonomy.
Michael Kimmel
#5. Women's roles are diminished for obvious reasons. It's the men whose names are on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and who were generals and soldiers.
Cokie Roberts
#6. Immigration was a huge force in changing my outlook. I moved to America 30 years ago. I had to reassess my beliefs, especially about women's roles.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
#7. I feel there is no shortage of real interesting women's roles. But I found them and did all of them just now.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
#8. I think, certainly in the more civilized societies, women's roles are growing in power all of the time.
Sally Quinn
#9. Why, in the Peking Opera, are women's roles played by men? ... Because only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act.
David Henry Hwang
#10. Within the various acts of the ecodrama should be included scenes in which men's and women's roles come to center stage and scenes in which Nature 'herself' is an actress.
Carolyn Merchant
#11. The 1890s was a decade when life began to change in urban America. Modern conveniences that we now take for granted came into use; women's roles became less restrictive; and San Francisco, a port city with influences from all over the world, was a lively place in which to reside.
Marcia Muller
#12. Judged by the evolving nineteenth-century ideology of femininity, which emphasized women's roles as nurturing mothers and gentle companions and housekeepers for their husbands, Black women were practically anomalies. Though
Angela Y. Davis
#13. I single handedly revolutionised women's roles in the WWE, before me all women were eye candy.
Amy Dumas
#14. I think there's a lack of quality roles for women in comedies. Most actresses get cast as the "eye-roller" or "the serious one," while men in comedies get to do all the fun, silly stuff and muck around. Sometimes you just have to search hard for a role or create one for yourself.
Isla Fisher
#15. It's often women who are writing leading roles for women. Most of the stuff that comes my way is not actually about women. I'm just asked to be a supporting player in a story about a man, and I, frankly, was not interested in doing that.
Carrie Coon
#16. That's always a fun thing to play, a relationship where there's equals. I often play roles that are repressive, or women who are slightly repressed or having some kind of internal conflict.
Laila Robins
#17. Nothing indicts female allegiance to patriarchy more than the willingness to behave as though the problems created by cultural investment in sexist thinking about the nature of male and female roles can be solved by women's working harder.
Bell Hooks
#18. There are so few strong roles for women, especially young women. And Veronica is very serious but also very likable. She's a lone wolf, and it appeals to people that she isn't rich and doesn't have a lot of friends. No posse. She's just like you, like most of us.
Kristen Bell
#19. If you look at men's roles for the last thousand years, the desire is fundamental. We want to take care of, provide for, and be of service to ... women.
Matthew Fox
#20. A feminist is just someone who recognizes power structures that keep people from having the fullest life they can.
Lauren Groff
#21. You know, right now, they say - I don't know who says this, but somebody told me - there's three male roles to every female role. And I guess I'd work on evening that up. Making great roles for women. It's just such a huge challenge.
Anna Faris
#22. Over my lifetime, women have demonstrated repeatedly that they can do anything that men can do, while still managing traditional women's work at the same time. But the same expansion of roles has not been available to men.
Anne-Marie Slaughter
#23. There is more for women in terms of character roles now. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith have constantly changed over the years and challenged themselves with different roles. That's impressive.
Imogen Poots
#24. It's funny because when I first met with Carmen, she said, "Have you ever thought about doing TV?" And I was like, "No, not really, but I'd audition for TV." And she said, "That's where the roles are for women now. That's where you can go and get a really great part."
Eve Hewson
#25. Men have jobs, while women have Roles: Mother, Wife, Goddess, Temptress, etc. That's probably why it's so hard for women to rewrite the rules. You're not just changing a job description, but an ancient myth. You're revising the Bible, Poetry, Legend and Psychoanalytic Scripture.
Caryl Rivers
#26. Magistrate: May I die a thousand deaths ere I obey one who wears a veil!
Lysistrata: If that's all that troubles you, here take my veil, wrap it round your head, and hold your tounge. Then take this basket; put on a girdle, card wool, munch beans. The War shall be women's business.
Aristophanes
#27. For years, it's driven me crazy that women don't have better roles, especially in comedies. I know so many funny women but I always felt ... misogynist streak is too strong a term - but a dismissiveness.
Paul Feig
#28. I'm not sure how we got to this place, where a girl's only value is in what kind of marriage she has, how capable she is of keeping a man happy.
Amy Engel
#29. Men and women have defined roles, and it's the responsibility of a parent to make sure they know which way to go; otherwise, a child would feed themselves with their feet without the correct guidance.
Monica Johnson
#30. You can be any sex you like provided you act male. There's no men and women in the Watch, just a bunch of lads.
Terry Pratchett
#31. Modeling is about illusion. It's a fantasy world where models play various roles. By featuring extreme looks, magazines show women how to have fun with makeup and clothes, and to inspire them to experiment - just like we did when we were little girls.
Cindy Crawford
#32. Joss Whedon is a hero of mine, and what he's done for women in film and television, particularly when it comes to writing female roles that would typically go to a man, is awesome.
Bryce Dallas Howard
#33. It's still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women.
Susan Sarandon
#34. There's a lot of good roles for men, always, and for very young girls. But for women, not so many.
Emmanuelle Seigner
#35. Makeup is for women. It's the law of nature for them to doll themselves up to get a man."
"On the contrary. [ ... ] In the natural world, it is the male of the species who is adorned with colors to attract, impress and keep his potential mate.
Dawn Flemington
#36. Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin. They know that she's a role model to women and other - and reformers all over America. She's a reformer.
John McCain
#37. Working on 'Fresh Off the Boat' has been really enlightening to me because it's made me actually think about the roles that Asians and Asian-American women have played in media. Not because I didn't think it was important before, but because before, I was really focused on just paying my rent.
Constance Wu
#38. Why love has to intense? Women's love isn't. It is a male contribution to a relationship. What does a woman contribute? Children continuity- intentional immortality.
Aporva Kala
#39. Any ensemble - they didn't call it "the all-male Expendables," for example. But it's Hollywood's fault that people say that [ "the all-female Ghostbusters" ], because there have been so few movies that have allowed women to have these leading roles, so that's Hollywood's fault.
Paul Feig
#40. I think obviously we need to work harder at extending the women's movement. How do women who have prepared for careers and have a child get back to the workplace and still fulfill maternal roles?
Tom Brokaw
#41. Indeed, there were times when it was quite worrying that after hitting a certain age, you wouldn't hear from a lot of actresses anymore. But that's when women hit their stride and get a lot more interesting. You see that in roles for males but it's slowly getting better for women too.
Christine Bottomley
#42. At the drop of a hat, people will say there are no roles for women after 40. It's there with a bunch of other rules I'm not interested in.
Lesley Nicol
#43. The woman who realizes that she is bound by a million Lilliputian threads in an attitude of impotence and hatred masquerading as tranquility and love has no option but to run away, if she is not to be corrupted and extinguished utterly.
Germaine Greer
#44. Women's worst invention was the plow. With the beginning of plow agriculture, men's roles became extremely powerful. Women lost their ancient jobs as collectors.
Helen Fisher
#45. There are so many female roles - particularly for young women - that are just somebody's girlfriend or somebody's daughter, or that are accessories to the main story rather than being three-dimensional characters.
Hannah Murray
#46. It's my choice to be beautiful. It's my choice to be ugly. And it's my choice to decided what those words actually mean.
Virginia Petrucci
#47. The tyranny of maternal duty is not new, but it has become considerably more pronounced with the rise of naturalism, and it has thus far produced neither a matriarchy nor sexual equality, but rather a regression in women's status.
Elisabeth Badinter
#48. What's more, I live in Berkeley, California. If princesses had infiltrated OUR little retro hippie hamlet, imagine what was going on places where women actually shaved their legs!
Peggy Orenstein
#49. Soaps are one of the few areas on TV that really embrace older women. In drama, there's this ridiculous invisibility for women between the ages of 40 and 60. Unless you're old enough to play a grandmother, there just aren't the roles.
Amanda Donohoe
#50. In Alien, Sigourney Weaver's role was written for a man. In Salt, Angelina Jolie's role was written for Tom Cruise. These things, when reversed, do prove to be just as exciting and entertaining with women in leading roles.
Olivia Wilde
#51. I'd quite like to do a film but I'd also love to do more theatre. I want to keep challenging myself with good roles. It's harder for women because there aren't as many challenging roles.
Ruth Wilson
#52. It's not fair that there aren't very many juicy or varied roles for women.
Rosanna Arquette
#53. Even the notion that women should have children at all is based on the idea that a woman's inherent and most important role is that of mother. Shockingly, men's 'innate' roles are a lot more fun than the ones bestowed on women.
Jessica Valenti
#54. I think that we're in a really amazing time, where there are really a lot of really fantastic female actresses and comedians. I imagine there's just a lot of opportunity for women to have powerful roles. Or it's just that there's more women writing TV. Women tend to maybe write strong women.
Whitney Cummings
#55. I grew up idolizing Madeline Kahn and Lily Tomlin and Carol Burnett, Ruth Gordon, Rosalind Russell, Amy Irving, women who were stylish and real actresses who did real work and could not be replaced with anyone else. You cannot cast anyone else in Madeline Kahn's roles.
Jenny Slate
#56. There's a terrible truth for many women in the picture business: Aging typically takes its toll and means fewer and less desirable roles.
Maureen O'Hara
#57. At first, being a female role model really terrified me. But it hasn't turned out to be an awful burden. I get a lot of letters from women who tell me that, after watching Xena, they have bought the Harley-Davidson they always wanted or left an abusive relationship.
Lucy Lawless
#58. Despite all of the social advances in women's rights and the push for gender equality in the workplace, it seems like modern men still want a woman that they can take care of at home.
Shannon Mullen
#60. Often, the roles I'm offered in England are melancholic women who are filled with regret for the past, regret for their fading beauty.
Kristin Scott Thomas
#61. Once we increase the proportion of women in technical roles, the challenge is to retain them and ease the transition to senior positions.
Vivek Wadhwa
#62. A man is lucky if he is the first love of a woman. A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.
Charles Dickens
#63. I feel like part of the inequality is that there are few great roles written for older women, and I think part of that is, basically, people want to look at young women, whereas men are still considered attractive - or more attractive - when they get older.
Erin Davie
#64. Martin: Yes, I'd like to go home and do some work. I'm writing a novel about women from the women's point of view.
Caryl Churchill
#65. I have led the way for moving women from traditional roles to strategic positions and inspired girls and women throughout Africa to seek leadership positions.
Dalia Grybauskaite
#66. I'm so sick of hearing how there's no strong roles for women. I don't care about strong roles. I just want to see women who are characters! A nun, a serial killer, a housewife, as long as there's some depth there.
Martha Plimpton
#67. I like to play smart, three-dimensional women. I also like to play roles where the women are a little crazy. I just have a feel for crazy people.
Lili Taylor
#68. For Archie was an expert in dividing the affairs of life into men's business and women's business. An empty cupboard and a full plate were the man's business, a full cupboard and an empty plate the concern of the woman.
Annie Proulx
#69. Of course men play roles, but women play roles too, blanker ones. They have, in the play of life, fewer good lines.
Iris Murdoch
#70. I don't want to be 45 competing with 20-year-olds, running to go get Botox. I want to be an expressive actor hired for the age that I am, portraying women who are my age: 40. I'm just hoping I can find some of those roles to play. Otherwise, I have to find something else.
Debi Mazar
#71. If anything remains more or less unchanged, it will be the role of women.
David Riesman
#72. There are really very few roles for women in films in which you can also make a living.
Gaby Hoffmann
#73. Men are not from Mars and women are not from Venus instead we are all people. Deal with it.
Shahla Khan
#74. Women in leadership roles can help restore balance and wholeness to our communities.
Wilma Mankiller
#75. I want to keep playing strong female roles. I don't mean superheroes, but women who are really alive.
Bel Powley
#76. I'm getting a lot of roles as women who are very powerful. I think that's a reflection of me as a person.
Melinda Clarke
#77. What's universal is the texture of our relationships. It's evolving. Times are changing with the women's movement. Men's roles are being redefined and, in some ways, they're confused.
Terry McMillan
#78. Modern women are squeezed between the devil and the deep blue sea, and there are no lifeboats out there in the form of public policies designed to help these women combine their roles as mothers and as workers.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett
#79. Why do women love The Princess Bride so much? Here's a thought: because its hero, Westley, is able to simultaneously fill the roles of dashing romantic adventurer and seriously devoted (maybe even borderline henpecked) fiance.
Stephen H. Segal
#80. I wish writing was a talent that I had. I've tried. Unfortunately, I'm just not talented in the writing department. But, if I was, I would just write complicated roles for women because there's a lack of them.
Eva Mendes
#81. And the first commandment of feminism is: I am woman; thou shalt not tolerate strange gods who assert that women have capabilities or often choose roles that are different from men's.
Phyllis Schlafly
#82. There are some fantastic roles for women and women of a certain age on television, whether it's 'Medium' or 'The Closer' or 'Damages' or 'Saving Grace.'
Megan Follows
#83. I think the roles in television are better for women right now. At this point, I don't want to continue doing the same things I've been doing in film because it's very limited.
Sandra Oh
#84. We've made so much headway with storytelling - mostly on cable, let's be honest - but also on the networks and, you know, I think it's about time that the leads are women. I'm not a woman, so I'm a bit biased - I wouldn't mind if a few roles were left over for men.
Dylan Walsh
#85. What I learned was there's no roles for women who won't be in their 40s. For women who will be in their 40s, there's a ton of work.
Sharon Stone
#86. Boyhood proves that there's still good roles for women over 40, as long as you get hired when you're under 40.
Tina Fey
#87. Also the fact that he's a guy. A girl screws around like Lotto and she's like diseased. Untouchable. But a guy can stick it to a million places and everyone just thinks he's doing what boys do.
Lauren Groff
#88. The roles that I feel I get, or handed to me, or whatever, are not that interesting. I don't think it's a problem that's specific to black women. I think it's a problem that's specific to movie-making in America.
Aunjanue Ellis
#89. Every time there's a really good story, there's women in it. We may not get as many roles, but the roles we get are really good, I think, for the most part.
Sigourney Weaver
#90. When girls see women in leadership roles speaking out for what they believe in, they see it is possible for them, too. Instead of a faraway dream, their aspirations become real, concrete and achievable. Womanhood starts to look more inviting.
Tabby Biddle
#91. Men are boys for such a long time and really don't start getting the great roles until they're in their mid-thirties. But then they've got a long time to do them, whereas for women, it's all about playing younger and younger and younger.
Cate Blanchett
#92. Oh, dear
did I forget to mention that you can, indeed, have it all, but you need a lot of help!
Will Schwalbe
#93. There seems to be great roles for women, and it's not necessarily - you don't have to be young women. Suddenly, we're realizing that, generally, women are interesting, and they can also be weird and crazy and mean.
Lena Headey
#94. Liberty is terrifying but it is also exhilarating.
Germaine Greer
#95. I feel it most in my work, because there aren't roles about women who are spiritually evolving. That anyone would even write something like that, something that's worth doing, would be a miracle!
Olympia Dukakis
#96. I saw my role as prime minister's wife as being human towards other humans and not treating them badly.
Margaret Whitlam
#97. What I think is new is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and in film. That's what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
#98. I just want to keep writing characters who are interesting and complicated people and interesting roles for women, in TV or film or in theater. I think that's like my 'Blues Brothers' mission.
Elizabeth Meriwether
#99. One is that if women's sexuality in Africa wasn't under assault, if women were able to say no, if women weren't subject to predatory attacks by men, or predatory behavior generally, then you would have a disease in Africa called AIDS. But you wouldn't have a pandemic.
Stephen Lewis
#100. There's such an array of brilliant roles for young women. You read all these amazing young women going through different stages in their life - different stages, different fascinations, different textualities, different friendships.
Juno Temple
